Scientific machine selection from Hardinge

David Barber, director of corporate promotion and marketing manager told Machinery the new product positioning strategy aims to make selecting the correct machine more logical and scientific. Many machine tool companies have a single product strategy that sees companies either forced to choose a machine which has more capability than is actually required or select one that will be asked to do too much, he offered. Hardinge Group has, in the case of lathes and machining centres, structured its products in three levels: standard; performance; and high performance. So, for machining centres this means, XV, GX and XR, respectively, and for lathes this sees the progression: SV, GS and SR. In grinding there are two tiers, incidentally. These tiers do not only relate to functionality, which is how most people categorise different levels of performance, but also capability. So, how hard is the material, how tight the tolerance, what surface finish is required, what level of production volume is required, for example. A simple part, geometrically speaking, which might ostensibly demand a standard machine might then also have a particular attribute – high material hardness, for example – which would mean it actually demands a higher capability machine. With this product strategy, customers are not forced to buy more than they need nor settle for something less, said Mr Barber. The company is about to launch a web-based selection tool to help customers steer their way through the capability, functionality, budget process – but still leaving final choice to the customer based on budget: “because there is always a budget that affects choice”. With this approach Hardinge Group is “trying to qualify real capability, real functionality and real budget,” Mr Barber underlined. He revealed also that this thinking now informs product development, helping to avoid the accidental creation of intermediate levels and so muddying the customer's decision-making process.